The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism

The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political
Secularism shows how people can live together and overcome the
challenge of religious terrorism by adopting a "secular outlook" on
life and politics.

Shows how secularism can answer the problem of religious
terrorism

Provides new perspectives on how religious minorities can be
integrated into liberal democracies

Reveals how secularism has gained a new political and moral
significance.

Also examines such topics as atheism, religious criticism and
free speech

Paul Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He is also a lawyer, a former Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delft, and a widely published author.

"This book would be ideal for an upper-level undergraduate or
graduate religious studies or philosophy seminar. Highly educated
lay readers and academics interested in religion and secularism
will also likely find the book of interest." (Journal of
Contemporary Religion, 1 January 2012)

"The book is a balanced account of what went wrong in defending
liberal democracy in the past two decades and what is to be done to
revigorate the foundations for liberal democracy ." (Acta Politica,
2011)

"The overall structure of the book is quite clear . . .
Nevertheless, if I would be forced to summarise the book in its
entirety, then I would claim that it can be seen as an elaborate
and successful (as far
as I am concerned) defense of the view that religion derives from
morality and not the other way around." (International Humanist
News, 1 April 2011)

"It is a level-headed contribution to an important debate about
how best to address religious fundamentalism and political
fanaticism." (The Christian Century, 8 March 2011)

"Cliteur's book is timely and well written. It covers some very
recent events, and offers coherent - if sometime impatient -
perspectives on religion from the secular standpoint. Recommended.
Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty." (Choice ,
1 April 2011)

"You actually have to focus on the paragraphs. That doesn't mean
that the style is inaccessible or difficult - not at all, it's very
readable - but this is a meaty book that asks for (and rewards) a
certain amount of concentration." (Metamagician and the Hellfire
Club, 7 April 2011)

"The primary goal of this book, its author says, is ‘to
show how religious believers and unbelievers can live peacefully
together and what principles the state should try to stimulate in
its citizenry to achieve social harmony and social cohesion.' He
recommends a moral and political vision which he calls "a 'secular
outlook' on life." Its four main components are atheism, criticism
of religion, free speech, and ‘moral autonomy.' Cliteur wants
us to be freethinkers and to expose the ways in which sacred texts
actually endorse or even encourage violence, terrorism, and
injustice. Cliteur is right, of course, that free inquiry and
criticism should be protected." (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,
6 March 2011)

"Accessible, engaging and convincing, it is the perfect tome for
those who wish to learn about the ethical and logical case for a
secular moral and political framework." (Tribune, 4 March 2011)

"A robust defence of the Enlightenment tradition and a must-read
for those concerned by the corrosive aspects of religion on
society." (Times Higher Education, 10 February 2011)

"But Cliteur challenges this interpretation, charging Armstrong
with seeking to dismiss fundamentalism as a ‘perversion' of
religion when in fact the fundamentalists can claim to be adopting
the very attitude their sacred texts demand". (Church of England
Newspaper, 7 January 2011)

"The Secular Outlook is a thought-provoking discussion of how
liberal, secular democracies can and should respond to extremism
and a much-needed exposition of the vital importance, in that
response, of rationality and an emphasis on common humanity". (New
Internationalist, 1 December 2010)

"Secularism is one of those concepts that is widely used without
a clear notion of what it is. Dutch humanist philosopher Paul
Cliteur's The Secular Out -look: In Defense of Moral and
Political Secularism supplies a theoretical clarification of
what secularism is and what it is not. However, the book is more
than a helpful analytical exercise-it is also an urgent plea for
political and moral secularism." (Free Inquiry, October
2010)

"This is a brave and timely book, a light in the gathering
Endarkenment. Cliteur responds lucidly to the West's many failures
of political nerve, to the new climate of rationalizing the
irrational and appeasing authoritarians. He advances a powerful
case for the values of freedom and reason."
—Russell Blackford, Co-editor for 50 Voices of
Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists

Connect with Wiley Publicity

Many social thinkers have predicted a steady move towards the practice of secularization in our political, moral, and social realm. Instead, a resurgence of religious fanaticism and extremism now poses an immediate threat to liberal democracies in all its forms. In his new book, The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism (September 2010), Paul Cliteur argues that there are solutions to this dilemma. He analyzes how we, as a society, should react to the spiritual and ideological challenges that radical religious movements pose to Western liberal democracies, asking “what is the most promising reaction to these challenges”?

To many living in the contemporary world it is the correct time and place to put the solutions Cliteur proposes into action. Inspired to write the book through his experience with the Danish Jyllands-Postencartoon incident, Cliteur urges people to brainstorm on how to overcome political conflicts and difference, recognize and seize the true working values of a successful democracy, and begin to adopt a more constructive and less divisive “secular outlook” on society and politics. He argues that a religiously neutral state can be achieved through critical thinking, free speech, and ultimately the adoption of moral secularism (separation of religion and morals) and political secularism (separation of church and state), therefore working in the interest of all citizens, not just theists or atheists.

Unlike the more polemical arguments of authors such as Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens, philosopher Paul Cliteur reveals how religious believers and non-believers can live together peacefully by pointing to secular, political, and policy principles that can inspire citizens of democracies to achieve social harmony and cohesion.

Cliteur also presents a new analysis of the nature of religious terrorism, and claims that terrorists are in the grip of a rather consistent and narrow religious worldview that needs to be addressed in institutional terms as well as penal terms. He also shows why politicians, policy makers and intellectuals are engaged in a dangerous and costly game to try to appease terrorists by making concessions.

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